Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Rise Together (Again)

Yes, we've published the Rise Together Greensboro ladders recently, but Charlie Brouwer's work is so fun to view, on line and even more in person, we just had to feature it again. Look at the glow it takes on at night. The concept of intaking ladders from the community and turning them into a coherent work of art is brilliant. As seen above, the finished product resembles an igloo, and people can walk through to admire all the details of the ladders. Some ladders are small and made out of popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners. Others are giant industrial ladders. Some represent their contributors' businesses. For example, the ladder from Zeto's Wine Shop has corks glued to it. Schools feature their names prominently. The bicycle group, Fish on Wheels, riding for MS this weekend, has a Fish-on-Wheels t-shirt at the top and flip flops glues to the bottom. Mack & Mack clothing designers on Elm Street found a ladder on rollers and rolled it up to contribute. Charlie Brouwer was right when he said the people and their ladder stories are an important part of the project.

Every time you look at the ladders, held together with zip ties, you see something different. A sign asks people to view responsibly and to not climb the ladders; however, we saw many children crawling through the ladders and giggling in delight. If your community wants a ladder sculpture, we suggest you contact Charlie. He indicated that he promised his wife he'd take a year off because he has done two installations this year and they require being away from home for so long. But, Charlie, they are so wonderful and do so much to build community. Perhaps you could hire an intern...